Coventry and her Cathedral

The Servers and community at the Cathedral are privileged to worship in a building recently voted the best loved 20th Century building. You will see in the page entitled " A Liturgical Space" more on the subject of the buildings ability to enhance the worship experience. It is a world famous building, not only because of its unusual and for its time, innovative design, but oddly perhaps because of the destruction of the part of the building we now call the Ruins. On 14th November 1940 the former 14th Century Church of St Michael elevated to the status of Cathedral in 1918 was destroyed along with much of the City of Coventry. It's near neighbour and one of the famous Three Spires of Coventry, the Church of Greyfriars was destroyed in a later raid, but its steeple remains intact. The story is almost as famous as that of Coventry's famous patron lady, Lady Godiva. The destruction of city and Cathedral struck a chord, particularly when the Provost of the time prayed for forgiveness, and from his quotation of the words of Christ on the Cross, "Father Forgive" the Community of the Cross of Nails was born. The spirit of reconciliation concentrated to begin with on links with Germany but over the years spread to all parts of the globe where conflict and wars occurred. From the ashes of the former cathedral grew a determination to build a new Cathedral and a new City. The work of reconciliation reached a poignant moment when Coventry Cathedral was invited to act as a host for the massive Cross and Orb that had been designed and constructed in Britain for the restored Cathedral in Dresden, Coventry's twin city that had also suffered devastation in the Second World War. The Cross and Orb was presented to the German Ambassador at a ceremony at the Cathedral before it was then taken on a tour of other cathedrals in Britain. The new Cathedral opened in 1962 lies geographically at what was the East End of the Priory of St Mary founded by Earl Leofric and Lady Godiva in the 11th Century. The remains of that Priory, which was the City's first Cathedral, were recently excavated as part of the Phoenix Initiative and involved the Time Team programme (details of this can be found on their web site, please see our Links Page). This massive structure stretched from our modern Cathedral to the West End of nearby Holy Trinity Church and was a wealthy place of pilgrimage in medieval times. Visitors can now see the remains in the newly created Priory Gardens next to the Cathedral Offices and Holy Trinity in Priory Row and a Visitors Centre gives information about the site. This site was featured in the TV programme Time Team. The Priory helped to make Coventry an important city in medieval times and it was ranked in the top ten cities of that period. The Ruins that now form part of today's Cathedral are all that remains of the Church of St Michael. In medieval times this Church was not the Cathedral as it was later to become, but the Church serving the Earl's half of the City. Coventry was divided in two, and the neighbouring Church of the Holy Trinity was the Prior's Church and served his half of the City. The dividing line between the two halves of the City lay between these two churches along St Michael's Avenue, which is why we have two churches in close proximity to one another. In the shattered fragments of medieval glass in one of Holy Trinity's windows is what is believed to be a representation of Lady Godiva one of the founders of the nearby Priory. Earl Leofric is perhaps less famous than his wife Lady Godiva, but it was he who it is said caused her by his heavy taxation of the citizens to make her famous ride in the nude. It is thought this popular myth arises from early records which recalled her as riding “denuded”: which in medieval times would mean denuded of all her finery and jewels, so it is likely she rode in a simple shift or unadorned dress, rather than as we have more lately imagined! Later versions of the story include a reference to one disrespectful citizen who unlike all the others did not wish to stay inside his shuttered house but decided to take a look; he was blinded for his audacity. This is the legend of Peeping Tom an effigy of who can be seen in Hertford Street. The City of Coventry was founded by Royal Charter in 1345. It has a long eventful history, and has been a place of renewed industry and commerce starting with the wool and dyeing trades from which comes the saying "True as Coventry Blue" now often abbreviated to "True Blue". This arose from the spectacular blue colour the dyers and weavers were able to create for their cloth and in tribute to this on leaving office the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of the City are given a medallion held on blue ribbon regardless of their political persuasion. In the reign of King Henry VIII came the dissolution of the monasteries, and Coventry's Priory fell victim to that movement. The Prior's Church, Holy Trinity (picture 7 below) was ceded directly to the Crown and became the Parish Church of the City of Coventry, an honour it still retains today and as such, in its Marler Chapel, it houses a portion of the gold carpet laid in Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The glorious Prior building was partly demolished; the rest fell into disuse and disrepair and was a very useful quarry for building materials, which were then used throughout the City! A similar fate befell the nearby Whitefriars Monastery just outside the city gates and a part of which can still be seen and visited. It became the home of a wealthy merchant and welcomed no less a personage than Queen Elizabeth I on her Royal progress through the city. Following the collapse of the weaving industry came the watch industry, the sewing machine industry which then grew into the cycling industry and eventually developing into what is in recent years Coventry's most famous industry, motor car manufacture along with machine tooling. The boom in the engineering and car industries saw a phenomenal growth in the City's population, and industrial premises and factories abounded, including some that came almost up to the walls of Coventry's recently elevated Church of St Michael, the Cathedral that would be destroyed by bombs on 14 November 1940. The City had been turned over to munitions production. It became a great strategic target in that the war effort could be hampered by its destruction, its site in the centre of England would show the dominance of the Luftwaffe over Britain, and its medieval heart much visited and admired prior to the Second World War would be a shocking loss thus demoralising the nation. Prior to the Second World War Coventry could boast more medieval buildings than Stratford upon Avon. Coventry's history has always been bound up with its Cathedrals, first the Priory and more latterly the Cathedral Church of St Michael. The latter housed many of the chapels of the medieval guilds, standing as it does only a stone's throw from the medieval Guildhall of St Mary. With its City, the Cathedral burned. The Provost of the time said it was like watching Christ crucified, and although shocking, it demonstrated that Christ and his church shared the suffering of a world at war. In the aftermath of that war much rebuilding had to be done, not only of the Cathedral but also of the City whose name it bore. Coventry became a city of firsts. Strange to us now, but Coventry was the first city to have a pedestrian precinct, an idea then borrowed, copied and developed by other cities. It had the first purpose built ring road to avoid the City Centre and alleviate chronic congestion. The first new purpose built repertory theatre was built here through the generosity of international friends, the timber being given by the people of Yugoslavia, and hence the theatre was named the Belgrade. The first international twinning initiative was made in Coventry demonstrating her desire to link up with people in all nations, particularly those who had suffered as she had in war, so it became a twin of Sarajevo, of Dresden and from those beginnings began a movement for peace and reconciliation which was given support and strength by the Cathedral's ministry. This 20th century city has many reminders of its past glories. No visit would be complete without touring the Guildhall of St Mary, Ford's Hospital, Old Bablake which is one of only four other double galleried buildings left in Britain and which sits in a courtyard alongside Coventry's oldest parish church, the Collegiate Church of St John. This church was used as a prison for Royalist prisoners in the English Civil War. The hostility and tendency of the locals to shun those prisoners is where the saying "sent to Coventry" arose. Caesar's Tower at the rear of St Mary's Hall is the last remains of Coventry Castle, the gate into which gives the City's central square its name: Broadgate. Parts too of the City Wall and gates (photos 3,4 &5 below) can still be seen, despite the orders of King Charles II to have the walls destroyed and taken down, so strong had been fortress Coventry in the Civil War. Cook Street and Swanswell Gates (photos 3 &5)are worth examination and give an idea of the immensity of that former fortification. Just beyond the old city’s wall lay the Royal Manor of Cheylesmore and the gatehouse to the Manor is now the only remaining part of the manorial buildings, it has been sensitively converted to make a wonderful Registry Office (photo 2 below) In 1962 years of planning and building were completed with the Consecration of the Cathedral. Built with a liturgical glass West Screen, Sir Basil Spence envisaged a single Cathedral which incorporated the stark reminder of humankind's destructiveness in the Ruins and which gave us a flowering of humankind's artistic creativity in the new bold building. Sculptors, musicians and composers gathered either to beautify the building or to enrich its worship with works specially composed for it such as Britten's War Requiem written for the Consecration Festival. Like the City around it, the Cathedral was a symbol of resurrection and reconciliation. The Cathedral and City continue to develop. Greater and stronger links have been forged with historic Warwickshire which is within the Diocese of Coventry and which has gems such as Warwick and its Castle and the graceful architecture of Royal Leamington Spa. This is a vibrant Cathedral and City and its history suggests that its future will not be dull. Come look around and explore Cathedral, City and Diocese, and if you are coming let us know. For Events and Services please check out the Events and Services Pages.